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Not Exactly Child’s Play We begin this week with a nod to the impact of ethical (or unethical) decision-making on the world’s children. As back to school time approaches, children should be thinking about returning to learning and classmates in a safe, affordable, and fair environment. This list offers a mix. Two stories firmly remind just how far unethical-decision-making can go, here beyond unethical to the unconscionable. Three show inspirational decisions supporting children in the some of the most world’s most dire circumstances. (more…)

In this video, Susan Liautaud repositions the ethics of consent in a world she calls “ethics on the edge” with a look at cases such as Ebola and space travel.

This spring I have the privilege of teaching a course at Stanford University on ethics in today’s highly complex, uncertain world. One of my over-arching themes is that few factors define our individual, organizational, and societal stories as definitively as our ethics. We didn’t cover stories like Somaly Mam. Why? Because there is nothing unpredictable or nuanced here. This alleged case is a straightforward narrative with a predicable end: lying with an added dose of self-promotion leads to personal destruction and extensive collateral ethical damage. (more…)

Wilson Abney has been an attorney working in public service ethics for more than forty years. He served as Counsel, Chief Counsel, and Staff Director to the United States Senate Ethics Committee from 1980-1982. During that time he was also selected to serve as counsel to the Senate Impeachment Trial Committee for the trial of Federal District Judge Harry Claiborne. He authored the “fact book” used by the Trial Committee and the full Senate in debating whether Judge Claiborne should be removed from office. After leaving the Ethics Committee he served as Ethics Counsel for President Clinton’s transition team. He joined...

This article was first published in Susan’s Liautaud Huffington Post blog Too often ethics in business is viewed as exclusively a moral or philosophical endeavor. It is also frequently considered separate from the core economic and organizational factors underlying business analysis. In fact, failing to integrate ethics into business decisions can lead to catastrophic business results. (more…)